Yesterday, Maritza's sister Pita, who is a public school special education teacher, had the day off. Actually, the teachers were striking because for years they have continued to lose benefits and vacation time while taking on more responsibilities (like having to do the canvassing for the national census!) without any extra pay. So they sent a little message that they are serious about not accepting the latest of what the education minister is demanding of them. I don't understand it all, but I know I got the benefit of the strike because she took Christina and me on a little outing to Arenal Lake. It's a man-made lake that is one of the primary sources of power (hydroelectric, of course) for Costa Rica and even Nicaragua. When a drought a few years ago had everyone scared of a national lack of electricity, they began to install windmills around the lake, as you can see. You can also see the big Arenal volcano. We didn't get that close to it, but perhaps I'll take another little paseo on my own during a free weekend between classes and explore it a bit more. On the drive home, we finally got to see some monkeys, which supposedly are everywhere but seem to hide from me, playing on a telephone pole and wires. Surely the people in the five cars behind us understood the importance of waiting while we got out to take pictures. :)
I will take a bus tomorrow to San José. I learned last night that I will be staying in a home with two other students, who are probably my daughter's age, so they'll end up in a home with two old ladies. (And they're probably thinking that they're getting away from parents for the summer.) I'm fine with whatever the arrangement, especially now that I know the host has internet -wi-fi, even- so I will be able to keep Skyping with my husband and children and keep up with this blog from my room in the evenings instead of from some random spot on campus during the day.
Tomorrow evening, in fact, I should have some time to organize and post a few more pictures of Cañas. So stay posted! (Pun intended.)
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